Study on Heat Dynamics of Solar Air Heaters Using Quartzite Rocks as Sensible Heat Storage Unit: A Numerical Study

Solar collector works by absorbing the direct solar radiation and converting it into thermal energy, which can be stored in the form of sensible heat or latent heat or a combination of sensible and latent heat. A numerical study has been carried out to assess the rock bed storage system. To this aim, four scenarios were considered, including SAH without storage system, SAH with ۲۰ kg of Quartzite rocks, SAH with ۴۰ kg of Quartzite rocks, SAH with ۶۰ kg of Quartzite rocks. The simulations were carried out based on weather conditions in Bam, Iran. The acquired results prove that the used sensible heat storage system can store heat during daytime hours and release it in the evening when solar irradiation is insufficient. Furthermore, using the sensible heat storage system increases the thermal efficiency by ۱۴.۷%.